De-facto Nagorno-Karabakh government says it will dissolve by next year
- 28 September, 22:10
The self-declared government of separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region has announced that will dissolve by January next year. The separatist government signed a decree on Thursday to officially dissolve the region that is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is overwhelmingly populated by Armenians.
The de-facto government will cease to exist as of January 1, 2024, according to the decree signed by Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the region. The dissolution of the de-facto government will end the 30 years of separatist rule in the region after a lightning attack by Azerbaijan last week forced local Armenian militants to disband. The swift “anti-terror” operation carried out on September 19, brought Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan’s full control after three decades of Armenian rule.
The decision to dissolve the de-facto government brought end to hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia who fought two previous wars over the region since the early 1990s. Azerbaijan recaptured most of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions around it in the war in 2020. The third brief war last week forced the region to surrender to Azerbaijan and also prompted exodus of the region’s local Armenian population. Tens of thousands of Armenians have left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia since last week out of fear of Azerbaijan’s persecution. According to official Armenian reports, the number of Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh has reached Around 50,000.
